Use the Secrets of Sports Psychology to
Skyrocket Your Sales Performance

By Jack Singer, Ph.D.

Matt is a sales
manager with a computer software company. His sales people have the
responsibilities of generating new business by making “cold calls”
and following up on leads from potential customers who respond to
inquiries that his company receives. Besides making sure that his
sales people can answer any questions about their products, Matt has
also trained them in the traditional practices of how to communicate
with potential customers, how to get them to realize how his
company’s products will make their jobs simpler and more efficient,
and how to close a deal. But Matt is befuddled at the poor sales
success rates of his people. Are there other training techniques
that can dramatically improve their performance?

Yes!
Traditional sales training techniques ignore the biggest obstacle to
sales success: Not recognizing and taking control of the Internal
Critic that lingers within every sales person, and every
athlete. The internal critic is basically a habitual pattern of
negative thoughts that people allow to continue unabated until they
recognize that they are engaging in such thinking. Using techniques
that professional sport psychologists use to help elite athletes
overcome their obstacle to success works the same wonders on sales
people.

Here are a few
tips that you can use with your sales people immediately:

Teach them to
understand the warning signs of their “Internal Critic” at work:
Self-talk will either make you successful or will lead to
disappointment. So often, people unconsciously use self-limiting
thoughts, which prevent them from being successful. Examples of
negative, pessimistic self-talk phrases, are: “What if …,” “I
hope I don’t…” I should have said…” “The client won’t like me if…”
“I always have problems with…”I probably won’t be able to close this
sale,” or “I can’t believe how stupid I was to say that…”

Negative,
pessimistic messages that people allow to pass through their minds
immediately lead to muscle tightening throughout the body. More
rapid breathing and often perspiring accompany this tightening.
Consequently, these physiological responses are perceived as
“stress” and you can read that all over the face and body language
of the sales person (or athlete, for example). Sales people can
practice catching themselves when these types of negative thoughts
go through their minds and they can make a fist (out of view of the
prospective customer), which is a reminder to STOP thinking that way
and to take a few relaxing breaths, release the fist, relax and
proceed to think positively and optimistically.

There is an old
saying that “What you believe, you can achieve.” Internal self-talk
leads to beliefs (either positive or negative) and beliefs lead to
the body’s reactions. Sales people need to believe in their
products and in their ability to show the customer why she/he needs
to purchase that product today. Once sales people believe in
themselves and their products, they are in a much better position to
achieve sales success.

Suggest that they
give themselves positive affirmations each day: Positive
affirmations are positive, optimistic thoughts about your sales
success as if it is happening today, right now. Since our
subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between something real
or imagined (for example, visualize yourself biting into a tart
lemon and see what your mind tells your salivary glands to do), when
you give yourself positive affirmations and imagine they these
things are happening right now, your subconscious mind wants to make
them happen for you. Here are examples of positive affirmations for
sales people:

“I know my
products and I will show my customers how these products are perfect
for their situation,” I know how to treat people so they will be
open to my suggestions,” My self-confidence as a sales person grows
each day,” I see myself breaking my sales records each month.”

Make a list of
at least 10 positive affirmations to say each morning upon arising
and each evening when retiring. Say each one 10 times in the
morning and 10 times in the evening, breathing slowly and
visualizing the each affirmation happening now.

Encourage them to
visualize sales success before approaching the potential customer:
Your
subconscious minds take orders from you without judging success or
failure. As noted above, internal dialogue and beliefs are one
means of directing your subconscious mind. Another powerful
technique for directing the subconscious mind is actually
visualizing success. Professional golfers, for example, who
visualize each shot before they make it find a tremendous similarity
between their vision of that shot and the subsequent shot that they
make.

Tell your
people to visualize themselves preparing for the sales call,
gathering their materials, feeling really encouraged because they
know their products and feel confident as they enter the room where
the pitch will take place. Visualize the sights and sounds around
you as you begin the perfect sales presentation. They then see the
customer smiling and nodding in agreement as they show him/her how
much this product will help them. Finally, visualize themselves
shaking hands with the client, closing the deal and writing up the
order.

Show them the
power of goal setting. People are
eleven times more likely to reach a goal when they write it down, as
opposed to simply thinking about the goal. Have your sales people
write down short and long-term goals that are specific and
action-oriented. For example, “For this month, I will sell at least
27 widgets.” Make sure the goals are realistic.

Next, have them
visualize themselves feeling wonderful once they accomplish that
goal. Have them imagine it as if they have already accomplished the
goal. Finally, have them write down ways in which they can sabotage
themselves so that they won’t accomplish that goal. This is a
critical way of recognizing ways they perhaps didn’t realize they
were undermining their success and how they will now stop that
behavior.

Using these
tips will help your sales people look at the internal barriers to
their success and how to release their true talent. In short,
becoming an Inner Winner leads to success every time!